One Cowboy has endured as one of the most popular
and beloved American Legends ever to grace the silver
screen ... HOPALONG CASSIDY. An idol to millions of
children for over sixty years, William Boyd starred as
HOPALONG CASSIDY, the Western hero known for all time as,
"The epitome of gallantry and fair play." With
non-stop action and spectacular stunts, the legend lives
on as "Hoppy," as he is known to his friends,
battles crime and upholds justice with his quick-draw
shooting, clear thinking, fists of steel, and steadfast
character.

HOPALONG CASSIDY was the hero of twenty-eight
western novels written by
Clarence E. Mulford in the twenties, thirties, and
forties. Giving testimony to the lasting popularity of
this fictional cowboy hero is the very real fact that a
dozen of the novels are still in print.

WILLIAM (BILL) BOYD, a
star of the silent movies under contract to Cecil B.
DeMille, brought HOPALONG to the screen in a feature
produced by Paramount Pictures. Paramount made 34 more
pictures with Bill Boyd as Hoppy and United Artists
produced 31 others, also with Bill Boyd. Never in
Hollywood history has one man played the same character
in as many features. When audiences the world over saw
the films, Bill Boyd and Hopalong Cassidy became
synonymous.

Time Magazine in 1950
said, "Boyd made Hoppy a veritable Galahad of the
range, a soft spoken paragon who did not smoke, drink or
kiss girls, who tried to capture the rustlers instead of
shooting them, and who always let the villain draw first
if gunplay was inevitable." Boyd himself said,
"I played down the violence, tried to make Hoppy an
admirable character and I insisted on grammatical
English."

Sixty-six
motion picture features starring the same actor. An
incredible feat! No wonder, then, that this large body of
work led Bill Boyd to television in 1950. Boyd, with
remarkable foresight, had purchased the television rights
to all the Hoppy motion pictures and licensed 52 of them
to the NBC Television Network to be telecast as one hour
episodes.

From the moment that
HOPALONG CASSIDY premiered on NBC, Bill Boyd became an
international hero, for the films were telecast not only
in America but all over the world as well.

Twelve of the remaining
motion picture features that Boyd retained under the
Company name, "North Vines," were edited by him
into half hour episodes. Following this move, he formed a
new television production company to shoot a series of 40
new half hour episodes. The company ended up creating a
total of 52 half hours for the NBC network.

The public had clamored
for more HOPALONG CASSIDY and Boyd complied with their
demands.

His popularity was
astounding. He received 15 thousand fan letters a week.
He received endless and persistent requests from
individuals and international organizations to make
public appearances. He made two worldwide tours while NBC
pressed him to continue production. The stress was
tremendous. He was in his sixties by this time, and he
personally felt that the Hoppy character could not be
properly portrayed at this age. He was also feeling the
pressure of being before the cameras month after month.
The year before he retired, he made 40 Hoppy episodes in
as many weeks and made one more tour around the world for
the Newsboys' Association.

Completing that tour, he
put his horse Topper out to pasture, hung up his guns,
took off his boots, and said adios to HOPALONG CASSIDY,
his alter ego. Boyd was reluctant to retire because of
his loyal fans and the knowledge that his large
production crew would be put out of work. Fortunately,
CBS was about to start shooting the series, GUNSMOKE, and
Boyd was able to turn over his company to that network,
assuring employment for his entire crew.

Bill Boyd's television
success has never been rivaled. During public
appearances, as many as a million fans turned out to see
him. These fans, believe it or not, included presidents,
senators, congressmen, governors, mayors, admirals,
generals, ambassadors, prime ministers and of course John
Q. Public.

Boyd didn't sing, dance,
play football, baseball or basketball, nor did he box or
play tennis or race cars. Boyd was merely HOPALONG
CASSIDY. He smiled, waved, and shook hands. He was
simply...Mr. Goodguy...everybody's favorite
cowboy...everybody's FRIEND, BUDDY, PAL and IMMORTAL
HERO.......................